Boys Cross Country Athlete of the Year: No longer a struggle

Thursday

Jan 13, 2011 at 8:52 PMJan 14, 2011 at 2:22 PM

By C.J. DAFT, STAFF WRITER

Ismael Griego has come a long way since going out for cross country for the first time as a freshman.

Hard to believe, but he struggled just to run three miles two years ago. Griego, a Granite Hills junior, ran track for the first time in eighth grade, but the longest event he competed was the 800 meters.

"The first couple of weeks, yeah, I was struggling," Griego recalled. "I would walk a couple of miles, and run. And then eventually I would actually start listening to what the coach said, trained better, got some sleep and got more dedicated."

But by the end of that first season, Griego managed to crack the Granite Hills varsity seven. Now he's not just the best at Granite Hills, he's the best in the area. He was named the 2010 Daily Press Boys Cross Country Athlete of the Year.

The junior runner was the fastest in the area on the best team in 2010, leading the Cougars to their second-straight CIF-State Championships berth and Desert Sky League title.Individually, Griego had a pretty darn good year.

He capped it off with a 12th-place finish in the CIF-State Championships Division 3 race in 15:40 and placed ninth at the CIF-SS Championships in 15:42.

He also had a second-place finish at the CIF-SS Preliminaries and clocked wins in the Mt. San Antonio College Division 3 sweepstakes race, at the Palos Verdes Invitational, the Dana Hills Invitational junior race and two DSL cluster meets. His only blemish came when he tripped and fell over a rock during league finals which dropped him back to sixth.

"(Griego) has really put in the miles," Granite Hills coach Jim McManus said. "Many of the people with talent cruise and never reach their full potential. He's broken through the wall from natural talent, and he has really worked hard leading up to races."

Learning to run three miles hasn't been his only challenge along the way. Griego pinched a nerve in his back at the end of his sophomore season. Following the season, he visited the doctor and found out the injury was a result of his right leg being a half an inch shorter than his left.

"Anytime you're doing something from July to November, that's a lot of repetition," Griego's mother, Nicole Griego said. "His legs are doing the same thing and because of that discrepancy, that's a lot on his body."

Griego continued to feel some pain in his back during the track and field season. He successfully defended his league titles in the 800 and 1,600, but couldn't finish the 1,600-meter race at the CIF-SS Division 3 Finals. That's when he had to pull out after two laps due to the pain.

"During warmups I felt fine, but when I started to stretch, I started to feel something, but I didn't want to say anything," Griego said. "I wanted to push through."

Last year, Griego didn't commit himself to all of the stretching, but this year has been different. Prior to running now, he does some dynamic stretching and afterwards he does resistance stretches and takes ice baths.

He also wears an orthotic in his right shoe during training to compensate for the leg's shorter length.

"Once he realized that if he does the things that will make him feel better, that's been the difference between this year and last year," Nicole said.

McManus added that they've adjusted his running style to be more upright, which should help relieve Ismael of some of the stress on his body.

"It was more of a herky jerky form that put more stress on his body," McManus said. "Hopefully, we'll see him continue (to use the new form)."

Griego has also been more dedicated in his training, which he said was the difference.

"I put in seven more miles a week this year, but I didn't overtrain," Griego said. "When my body told me to it was hurting and when I should stop, I would stop. Unlike last year, I just ignored my injury."

Griego gave credit to former Granite Hills teammate Chris Rivera, who was a senior when he was a freshman, for teaching him to listen to his body during training.

"He pulled me aside one day and told me he wanted me to run with him to take me step-by-step on how he runs," Griego said. "Now I run the way he used to run in high school."

This spring, Griego will once again run track. He will continue to run the 1,600 but will likely move away from the 800 and compete in the 3,200. His best event is the 1,600, in which his previous best time put him .32 seconds off the school record of 4:22.

"I want to beat the mile record and make it hard to beat," Griego said.

Looking ahead to the next cross country season, Griego also hopes to improve upon his times and finishes in the postseason. He was a top 30 runner at CIF-SS championships as a freshman, top 20 as a sophomore and top 10 as junior.

Now has his sights on something bigger.

"Next year, I want to be the first person on the (CIF-SS) first team, and I want to win the state title," Griego said.

A more likely goal than when he first started out in the sport two years ago.

First TeamCODY JORDAN, SR., GRANITE HILLSJordan overcame an early-season bout with bronchitis to defend his Desert Sky League individual title from a year ago and ran the fastest time between the MRL and DSL in 16:01 on the Victor Valley College course. He finished 12th in 16:04 in a CIF-SS Div. 3 preliminaries race, 14th in the CIF-SS Div. 3 Championships in 16:13 and 55th in 16:15 at the CIF-State Championships.JACOB LINDSTROM, SR., GRANITE HILLSLindstrom, the Cougars' No. 4 runner, played a big role in helping them reach state for a second year in a row and grab a top 10 placing. He finished third at DSL Finals in 16:18, 19th at CIF-SS prelims in 16:16, 44th at the CIF-SS Championships in 16:51 and 58th at state in 16:16. BEN MINICK, SO., SERRANOPrior to the Mojave River League Finals, Minick had only been the Diamondbacks' No. 1 runner just once, but he went out and won the race by 15 seconds in 16:23. Minick, who was typically in the top three for second-place Serrano, finished 23rd in a CIF-Southern Section Division 2 preliminaries race in 16:11.LOGAN MORIN, SO., SERRANODespite a hip injury, Morin earned all-MRL honors for the second year in a row with an eighth place finish at the MRL Finals in 16:54 for the second-place Diamondbacks. Morin also finished in 50th at the CIF Preliminaries in 16:42.NICK REYNOLDS, SR., APPLE VALLEYReynolds — who finished in third at the Mojave River League Finals as a junior — emerged as the guy to beat in league this year by winning both cluster meets before coming in second at the finals in 16:38. Reynolds came in 29th in 16:45 at a CIF-SS Division 3 preliminaries race. ROBERT SAGER, SR., GRANITE HILLSSager, who was a fourth-year varsity runner and sometimes trains barefoot, peaked at the end of the season. He came in fifth at the DSL Finals in 16:32, eighth at preliminaries in 15:57, 17th at the CIF-SS Championships in 16:28 and 48th at state in 16:12.MARTIN SANTILLAN, SR., SILVERADOSantillan was one of two non-Granite Hills runners to crack the top five in all three DSL meets this season, and a cold may have prevented him from advancing to the CIF-SS Div. 1 Championships. He took fourth at the DSL Finals in 16:25 and ran 16:05 at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational.COACH OF THE YEARJOHN NUNES, APPLE VALLEYNunes' Sun Devils won their third Mojave River League team title in a row despite graduating Daniel Rosales and five of its top nine from the previous season. Apple Valley held off upstart Serrano in all three MRL races.Honorable MentionAnthony Carrasco (AAE); Kyle Macy, Ricky Navarro (Apple Valley); Karlan Smith (Barstow); Dominic Kennedy, Tanner Thomas (Granite Hills); Jacob Otto (Oak Hills); Jimmy Kniss (Serrano).

C.J. Daft can be reached at christiand@vvdailypress.com or at (760) 951-6275.